“Hm. I want an explanation, of course. I caught Liebe’s signal, but then, in just a moment, it moved really far away. And it’s here in Princess Lobelia’s mansion of all places? And then I find out that all the members of Zero Division are out of action, and see the leader of Azure Skies here? And to top it all off, there were two Qualia’s until just now. What is going on?”
Kernel rushed there with Clearance, but less than ten minutes later, he was dropping his shoulders.
But as he said, there was only one Qualia now. The zero point one percent of Shutdown’s power he released was now off.
“Explaining…”
Qualia answered all the questions.
How the assassins of Zero Division pressed upon them.
How, while that was happening, Liebe appeared forty-nine kilometers away.
How he unleashed two pieces of super technology.
How he eliminated the assassins with Spirito.
And finally, why Liebe had to stay near Ina.
He said all of it while looking at Ina’s face as she laid in a coma, with Liebe.
“Your explanation is all factual, important points, so it’s easy to understand… And I understand why Liebe is with you.”
Kernel left the knights of Clearance he brought with him, and stood right behind where Liebe was sitting. And he took out the knife he carried around his waist, his weapon of choice.
“Type SWORD. Request that you cease hostile action.”
Qualia did not create a beam, but no one questioned what the handle he was holding was.
Of course, that included Kernel, who knew how scary of a weapon a photon weapon was. But still, he stood firm, and pointed both the knife and his squinted eyes at Liebe.
“I won’t attack. As long as you come take a walk with us, peacefully.”
“You should not take Liebe now. Liebe’s most important task is to continue calling out to Ina.”
“I’m sorry, I feel bad for the cute maid, but that won’t do as a reason to not take him. This person incited beast people, and is the leader of Azure Skies, who led them to terrorism. Your whole family would have been killed if it was true. Did you learn your lesson?”
Kernel pointed his eyes at the unconscious Ina.
It did not take an artificial intelligence to see where this was going.
Kernel was not soft enough to let the number one culprit of the chaos and killing that happened in the capital go.
“The problem is that I don’t know how to execute a ghost… But he might have information regarding where the ancient magic stone is hidden. With the fate of the capital on the line, I will be taking him with me.”
“Fine.”
Liebe’s answer was short.
“But I don’t know where the ancient magic stone is. If I was using it, it’d be as a cross to put an end to the rampage of Azure Skies.”
Liebe said, as if mocking himself, when both Qualia and Kernel also saw something.
As if muddy water was being purified, the dark matter behind Liebe became enveloped with light, and progressively clear.
“You…”
“If you want to execute me, if you want to get something out of me, you better do it quick. I’m not going to stay here for much longer. I don’t know if I became a monster or a ghost or whatnot after being beheaded, but I know my time limit.”
Liebe turned to Ina’s sleeping face, and spoke, without much strength in his gaze.
“It’s my fault this happened to Ina. The person that stabbed her chest might be someone from Azure Skies. The moment I started thinking that, it was like the role of this thing inside me called reason of being was over.”
Liebe’s existence was due to the despair of losing Ina.
As a result, even though Ina was alive, Liebe remained as a ghost due to the fear of her life being taken.
But Backdoor, a member of Azure Skies, might have killed her.
The reason why Ina was in a coma in front of him, might be the Azure Skies he created.
It was his fault that Ina stood between life and death.
The hateful ghost wandered to avenge Ina, to guarantee her survival, but in the end, Ina got hurt.
This personal contradiction was fatal to a ghost. The emotions that made a ghost wavering were directly connected to its existence.
“…Then I’ll ask.”
Kernel seemed not so sure about pressing forward, but after taking a deep breath, threw Liebe a question.
“Who diverted the ancient magic stones to you?”
“The guardian knight chivalric order Troy. The beast person who got the ancient magic stones spoke to the commander of Troy, Woodhorse.”
“And said beast person is?”
“Backdoor.”
“And where is this Backdoor?”
“Dunno. We parted ways when it was time to attack the upper area. That was it.”
“Tell me what this Backdoor looks like.”
Cat ears, disheveled black hair, ocher sanpaku eyes that were always hidden by sunglasses. He was a little older than Liebe, and his stature was about the same as his.
Was how Liebe described Backdoor. He had no intention of protecting his comrade.
“Therefore, the next task will be to locate Backdoor.”
Qualia interjected when he also learned about Backdoor’s physical appearance.
“What are you going to do when you find him?”
Qualia responded to this question plainly.
Very plainly, as he watched Ina’s pained sleeping face.
…While clenching both fists.
“Confirm everything from the location of the ancient magic stone, his connection to Troy… And whether or not he executed the assassination of Ina.”
“That’s it?”
“Affirmative.”
There was a pause.
Qualia’s fists were still clenched as hard as he could.
Everyone else but Qualia saw the feelings behind them.
“That’s fine, but… In this case alone, I can’t condemn revenge. If Backdoor is one of the leaders of Azure skies, and the one who diverted the ancient magic stones, then he should be killed immediately, and outside the bounds of the law.”
“Error. Word ‘revenge’ not registered.”
Kernel continued, with his arms crossed, and ignoring Qualia’s ignorance for a moment.
“But then you can’t get what you want. If you’re really thinking about the cat eared maid, you have to always reconsider what you’re doing.”
“Error… Cannot understand what you are saying.”
“You will. I will give you one piece of advice. If you feel like you’re losing sight of yourself, look to the sky. It will be blue during the day and full of stars at night. Just look at that. Do it until the clouds making you lose sight of yourself clear.”
Kernel did not say the meaning behind this, did not grab Liebe’s neck, and put the knife away, as he left the room with Clearance.
“Are you sure about this?”
Asked one of the knights, as they walked away, and Kernel did nothing but look back at Liebe one last time.
“He’s a criminal that was already executed via the guillotine. The guillotine is a device that can only be dropped once.”
Kernel then passed by Lobelia, who was watching Qualia and Liebe from afar.
“I’ll take the remnant of Zero Division. I want to stomp out Troy already.”
“Fine. We’ve already heard everything we wanted.”
Said Lobelia, with her back against the wall, as she shrugged her tired shoulders.
“Honestly, their commander, Rocky, having surprisingly little fortitude was nice for us. He spit out everything before Qualia did his cracking. Including testifying about Woodhorse’s involvement.”
“Rocky… In the end, he was a poser looking for approval.”
Lobelia already held testimony about the ancient magic stone, and who gave the order to assassinate her.
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